diff --git a/lib/addressable/template.rb b/lib/addressable/template.rb
index 42cbf7cc..bc520415 100644
--- a/lib/addressable/template.rb
+++ b/lib/addressable/template.rb
@@ -896,19 +896,16 @@ def join_values(operator, return_value)
     #
     # @return [Hash, Array, String] The normalized values
     def normalize_value(value)
-      unless value.is_a?(Hash)
-        value = value.respond_to?(:to_ary) ? value.to_ary : value.to_str
-      end
-
       # Handle unicode normalization
-      if value.kind_of?(Array)
-        value.map! { |val| normalize_value(val) }
+      if value.respond_to?(:to_ary)
+        value.to_ary.map! { |val| normalize_value(val) }
       elsif value.kind_of?(Hash)
         value = value.inject({}) { |acc, (k, v)|
           acc[normalize_value(k)] = normalize_value(v)
           acc
         }
       else
+        value = value.to_s if !value.kind_of?(String)
         if value.encoding != Encoding::UTF_8
           value = value.dup.force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_8)
         end
diff --git a/spec/addressable/template_spec.rb b/spec/addressable/template_spec.rb
index 4b54ea96..5cac63ec 100644
--- a/spec/addressable/template_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/addressable/template_spec.rb
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@
       :path => "/foo/bar",
       :semi => ";",
       :list => %w(red green blue),
-      :keys => {"semi" => ';', "dot" => '.', "comma" => ','}
+      :keys => {"semi" => ';', "dot" => '.', :comma => ','}
     }
   }
   context "Expansion with value modifiers" do
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@
     {
       :var => "value",
       :semi => ";",
-      :year => %w(1965 2000 2012),
+      :year => [1965, 2000, 2012],
       :dom => %w(example com)
     }
   }
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@
       :base  => "http://example.com/home/",
       :path  => "/foo/bar",
       :list  => ["red", "green", "blue"],
-      :keys  => {"semi" => ";","dot" => ".","comma" => ","},
+      :keys  => {"semi" => ";","dot" => ".",:comma => ","},
       :v     => "6",
       :x     => "1024",
       :y     => "768",