diff --git a/includes/form.inc b/includes/form.inc
index c0e2ec7..9c7fae6 100644
--- a/includes/form.inc
+++ b/includes/form.inc
@@ -3892,7 +3892,7 @@ function theme_form_required_marker($variables) {
     'class' => 'form-required',
     'title' => $t('This field is required.'),
   );
-  return '<span' . drupal_attributes($attributes) . '>*</span>';
+  return '<abbr' . drupal_attributes($attributes) . '>*</abbr>';
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/modules/simpletest/tests/form.test b/modules/simpletest/tests/form.test
index e7ae9de..4d96929 100644
--- a/modules/simpletest/tests/form.test
+++ b/modules/simpletest/tests/form.test
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class FormsTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     $elements['file']['empty_values'] = $empty_strings;
 
     // Regular expression to find the expected marker on required elements.
-    $required_marker_preg = '@<label.*<span class="form-required" title="This field is required\.">\*</span></label>@';
+    $required_marker_preg = '@<label.*<abbr class="form-required" title="This field is required\.">\*</abbr></label>@';
 
     // Go through all the elements and all the empty values for them.
     foreach ($elements as $type => $data) {
@@ -598,16 +598,16 @@ class FormsElementsLabelsTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
 
     // Exercise various defaults for textboxes and modifications to ensure
     // appropriate override and correct behaviour.
-    $elements = $this->xpath('//label[@for="edit-form-textfield-test-title-and-required"]/child::span[@class="form-required"]/parent::*/following-sibling::input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-title-and-required"]');
+    $elements = $this->xpath('//label[@for="edit-form-textfield-test-title-and-required"]/child::abbr[@class="form-required"]/parent::*/following-sibling::input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-title-and-required"]');
     $this->assertTrue(isset($elements[0]), t("Label preceeds textfield, with required marker inside label."));
 
-    $elements = $this->xpath('//input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-no-title-required"]/preceding-sibling::label[@for="edit-form-textfield-test-no-title-required"]/span[@class="form-required"]');
+    $elements = $this->xpath('//input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-no-title-required"]/preceding-sibling::label[@for="edit-form-textfield-test-no-title-required"]/abbr[@class="form-required"]');
     $this->assertTrue(isset($elements[0]), t("Label tag with required marker preceeds required textfield with no title."));
 
     $elements = $this->xpath('//input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-title-invisible"]/preceding-sibling::label[@for="edit-form-textfield-test-title-invisible" and @class="element-invisible"]');
     $this->assertTrue(isset($elements[0]), t("Label preceeding field and label class is element-invisible."));
 
-    $elements = $this->xpath('//input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-title"]/preceding-sibling::span[@class="form-required"]');
+    $elements = $this->xpath('//input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-title"]/preceding-sibling::abbr[@class="form-required"]');
     $this->assertFalse(isset($elements[0]), t("No required marker on non-required field."));
 
     $elements = $this->xpath('//input[@id="edit-form-textfield-test-title-after"]/following-sibling::label[@for="edit-form-textfield-test-title-after" and @class="option"]');