Emoticon message composition is supported in a portable terminal. An edit window in the form of a lattice is displayed for message composition. During special character input selection, a list window including a plurality of special characters is displayed in the edit window. The list window is arranged such that a plurality of lines are shown in the edit window. The special characters displayed in the list window are arranged in a sequence of being stored in a queue that includes one of a special character queue for a message recipient or a basic special character queue.