diff --git a/testsuite/reftests/Makefile.am b/testsuite/reftests/Makefile.am
index ca2396a6b0..0d03072c89 100644
--- a/testsuite/reftests/Makefile.am
+++ b/testsuite/reftests/Makefile.am
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 include $(top_srcdir)/Makefile.decl
 NULL =
 
-TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = 			\
-	GSETTINGS_BACKEND=memory	\
+TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = 				\
+	GTK_IM_MODULE=gtk-im-context-simple 	\
+	GSETTINGS_BACKEND=memory		\
 	G_ENABLE_DIAGNOSTIC=0
 
 TEST_PROGS += gtk-reftest