A method and an apparatus for entering text in a portable terminal are provided. The method includes focusing on a selected text field and displaying a SIP, when the predefined text field is selected from among text fields, scroll-displaying the text fields in a display area in response to a requested scroll, when a user requests the scroll of the display area of the text fields, and identifying, from a result of the scroll display, whether the selected text field is being displayed in the display area, and determining whether text is to be entered into the selected text field.