diff --git a/rest_framework/fields.py b/rest_framework/fields.py
index bb9a523d6..5d13bd55f 100644
--- a/rest_framework/fields.py
+++ b/rest_framework/fields.py
@@ -409,6 +409,13 @@ class BooleanField(WritableField):
             return False
         raise ValidationError(self.error_messages['invalid'] % value)
 
+class TextField(WritableField):
+    type_name = 'TextField'
+
+    def from_native(self, value):
+        if isinstance(value, basestring) or value is None:
+            return value
+        return smart_unicode(value)
 
 class CharField(WritableField):
     type_name = 'CharField'
diff --git a/rest_framework/serializers.py b/rest_framework/serializers.py
index 063300172..0f19956eb 100644
--- a/rest_framework/serializers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/serializers.py
@@ -381,6 +381,7 @@ class ModelSerializer(Serializer):
             models.DateField: DateField,
             models.EmailField: EmailField,
             models.CharField: CharField,
+			models.TextField: TextField,
             models.CommaSeparatedIntegerField: CharField,
             models.BooleanField: BooleanField,
         }