diff --git a/tests/includes/testcase.php b/tests/includes/testcase.php
index a4e3337c82..c3fb4373df 100644
--- a/tests/includes/testcase.php
+++ b/tests/includes/testcase.php
@@ -129,9 +129,9 @@ class WP_UnitTestCase extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
 
 		$this->flush_cache();
 		unset($GLOBALS['wp_query'], $GLOBALS['wp_the_query']);
-		$GLOBALS['wp_the_query'] =& new WP_Query();
-		$GLOBALS['wp_query'] =& $GLOBALS['wp_the_query'];
-		$GLOBALS['wp'] =& new WP();
+		$GLOBALS['wp_the_query'] = new WP_Query();
+		$GLOBALS['wp_query'] = $GLOBALS['wp_the_query'];
+		$GLOBALS['wp'] = new WP();
 
 		// clean out globals to stop them polluting wp and wp_query
 		foreach ($GLOBALS['wp']->public_query_vars as $v) {
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ class WP_UnitTestCase extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
 	/**
 	 * Define constants after including files.
 	 */
-	function prepareTemplate( $template ) {
+	function prepareTemplate( Text_Template $template ) {
 		$template->setVar( array( 'constants' => '' ) );
 		$template->setVar( array( 'wp_constants' => PHPUnit_Util_GlobalState::getConstantsAsString() ) );
 		parent::prepareTemplate( $template );