diff --git a/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index a5d86afe9..4d6ac6204 100644
--- a/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ private function selectNodeType($node, $val)
      */
     private function getRealRootNodeName()
     {
-        if ( ! $this->serializer) {
+        if (!$this->serializer) {
             return $this->rootNodeName;
         }
 
diff --git a/Serializer.php b/Serializer.php
index d1c7138d6..4ec09b071 100644
--- a/Serializer.php
+++ b/Serializer.php
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@ class Serializer implements SerializerInterface, NormalizerInterface, Denormaliz
     protected $normalizers       = array();
     protected $normalizerCache   = array();
     protected $denormalizerCache = array();
-    protected $options           = array();
+    protected $options;
 
-    public function __construct(array $normalizers = array(), array $encoders = array(), array $options = array())
+    public function __construct(array $normalizers = array(), array $encoders = array())
     {
         foreach ($normalizers as $normalizer) {
             if ($normalizer instanceof SerializerAwareInterface) {
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ public function __construct(array $normalizers = array(), array $encoders = arra
         }
         $this->encoder = new ChainEncoder($realEncoders);
         $this->decoder = new ChainDecoder($decoders);
-        $this->options = $options;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -80,7 +79,7 @@ final public function serialize($data, $format, array $options = array())
             throw new UnexpectedValueException('Serialization for the format '.$format.' is not supported');
         }
 
-        $this->options = array_merge($this->options, $options);
+        $this->options = $options;
 
         if ($this->encoder->needsNormalization($format)) {
             $data = $this->normalize($data, $format);
@@ -98,7 +97,7 @@ final public function deserialize($data, $type, $format, array $options = array(
             throw new UnexpectedValueException('Deserialization for the format '.$format.' is not supported');
         }
 
-        $this->options = array_merge($this->options, $options);
+        $this->options = $options;
 
         $data = $this->decode($data, $format);
 
diff --git a/SerializerInterface.php b/SerializerInterface.php
index 9a5184291..e4d83cdf5 100644
--- a/SerializerInterface.php
+++ b/SerializerInterface.php
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ interface SerializerInterface
      *
      * @return string
      */
-    function serialize($data, $format, array $options = array());
+    public function serialize($data, $format, array $options = array());
 
     /**
      * Deserializes data into the given type.
@@ -39,12 +39,12 @@ function serialize($data, $format, array $options = array());
      *
      * @return object
      */
-    function deserialize($data, $type, $format, array $options = array());
+    public function deserialize($data, $type, $format, array $options = array());
 
     /**
      * Get current options of the serializer
      *
      * @return array
      */
-    function getOptions();
+    public function getOptions();
 }
diff --git a/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index aa0d03c7e..b23d4c793 100644
--- a/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ public function testEncodeSerializerXmlRootNodeNameOption()
     {
         $options = array('xml_root_node_name' => 'test');
         $this->encoder = new XmlEncoder;
-        $serializer = new Serializer(array(), array('xml' => new XmlEncoder()), $options);
+        $serializer = new Serializer(array(), array('xml' => new XmlEncoder()));
         $this->encoder->setSerializer($serializer);
 
         $array = array(
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ public function testEncodeSerializerXmlRootNodeNameOption()
         $expected = '<?xml version="1.0"?>'."\n".
             '<test><person gender="M">Peter</person></test>'."\n";
 
-        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->encode($array, 'xml'));
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $serializer->serialize($array, 'xml', $options));
     }
 
     public function testDecode()