diff --git a/rest_framework/generics.py b/rest_framework/generics.py
index f70c6f19f..4240e33e4 100644
--- a/rest_framework/generics.py
+++ b/rest_framework/generics.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Generic views that provide commmonly needed behaviour.
 """
 
-from rest_framework import views, mixins
+from rest_framework import views, mixins, serializers
 from django.views.generic.detail import SingleObjectMixin
 from django.views.generic.list import MultipleObjectMixin
 
@@ -18,11 +18,19 @@ class BaseView(views.APIView):
     def get_serializer(self, data=None, files=None, instance=None):
         # TODO: add support for files
         # TODO: add support for seperate serializer/deserializer
+        serializer_class = self.serializer_class
+
+        if serializer_class is None:
+            class DefaultSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
+                class Meta:
+                    model = self.model
+            serializer_class = DefaultSerializer
+
         context = {
             'request': self.request,
             'format': self.kwargs.get('format', None)
         }
-        return self.serializer_class(data, instance=instance, context=context)
+        return serializer_class(data, instance=instance, context=context)
 
 
 class MultipleObjectBaseView(MultipleObjectMixin, BaseView):
diff --git a/rest_framework/runtests/settings.py b/rest_framework/runtests/settings.py
index 93e38f467..67de82c81 100644
--- a/rest_framework/runtests/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/runtests/settings.py
@@ -100,7 +100,6 @@ import django
 if django.VERSION < (1, 3):
     INSTALLED_APPS += ('staticfiles',)
 
-
 # OAuth support is optional, so we only test oauth if it's installed.
 try:
     import oauth_provider
diff --git a/rest_framework/serializers.py b/rest_framework/serializers.py
index 4d5958d25..986d42250 100644
--- a/rest_framework/serializers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/serializers.py
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class BaseSerializer(Field):
         Returns the complete set of fields for the object as a dict.
 
         This will be the set of any explicitly declared fields,
-        plus the set of fields returned by get_default_fields().
+        plus the set of fields returned by default_fields().
         """
         ret = SortedDict()
 
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ class BaseSerializer(Field):
             return dict([(key, self.to_native(val))
                          for (key, val) in obj.items()])
         elif hasattr(obj, '__iter__'):
-            return (self.to_native(item) for item in obj)
+            return [self.to_native(item) for item in obj]
         return self.convert_object(obj)
 
     def from_native(self, data):
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/__init__.py b/rest_framework/tests/__init__.py
index 85ee18b61..adeaf6da3 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-"""Force import of all modules in this package in order to get the standard test runner to pick up the tests.  Yowzers."""
+"""
+Force import of all modules in this package in order to get the standard test
+runner to pick up the tests.  Yowzers.
+"""
 import os
 
 modules = [filename.rsplit('.', 1)[0]
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/generics.py b/rest_framework/tests/generics.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc9c6226a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/generics.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+from django.test import TestCase
+from django.test.client import RequestFactory
+from rest_framework import generics, status
+from rest_framework.tests.models import BasicModel
+
+
+factory = RequestFactory()
+
+
+class RootView(generics.RootAPIView):
+    model = BasicModel
+
+
+class TestListView(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        items = ['foo', 'bar', 'baz']
+        for item in items:
+            BasicModel(text=item).save()
+        self.objects = BasicModel.objects
+        self.data = [
+            {'id': obj.id, 'text': obj.text}
+            for obj in self.objects.all()
+        ]
+
+    def test_get_root_view(self):
+        view = RootView.as_view()
+        request = factory.get('/')
+        response = view(request).render()
+        self.assertEquals(response.status_code, status.HTTP_200_OK)
+        self.assertEquals(response.data, self.data)
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/models.py b/rest_framework/tests/models.py
index 4cae68b61..7429d8630 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/models.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/models.py
@@ -1,28 +1,36 @@
 from django.db import models
-from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
-
-class CustomUser(models.Model):
-    """
-    A custom user model, which uses a 'through' table for the foreign key
-    """
-    username = models.CharField(max_length=255, unique=True)
-    groups = models.ManyToManyField(
-        to=Group, blank=True, null=True, through='UserGroupMap'
-    )
-
-    @models.permalink
-    def get_absolute_url(self):
-        return ('custom_user', (), {
-            'pk': self.id
-    })
+# from django.contrib.auth.models import Group
 
 
-class UserGroupMap(models.Model):
-    user = models.ForeignKey(to=CustomUser)
-    group = models.ForeignKey(to=Group)      
-    
-    @models.permalink
-    def get_absolute_url(self):
-        return ('user_group_map', (), {
-            'pk': self.id
-        })
+# class CustomUser(models.Model):
+#     """
+#     A custom user model, which uses a 'through' table for the foreign key
+#     """
+#     username = models.CharField(max_length=255, unique=True)
+#     groups = models.ManyToManyField(
+#         to=Group, blank=True, null=True, through='UserGroupMap'
+#     )
+
+#     @models.permalink
+#     def get_absolute_url(self):
+#         return ('custom_user', (), {
+#             'pk': self.id
+#     })
+
+
+# class UserGroupMap(models.Model):
+#     user = models.ForeignKey(to=CustomUser)
+#     group = models.ForeignKey(to=Group)
+
+#     @models.permalink
+#     def get_absolute_url(self):
+#         return ('user_group_map', (), {
+#             'pk': self.id
+#         })
+
+
+class BasicModel(models.Model):
+    text = models.CharField(max_length=100)
+
+    class Meta:
+        app_label = 'rest_framework'