More often than not, metafiction is approached more on philosophical than aesthetic grounds. In metafictional works the ontological or epistemological dimensions of works of art, literature in particular, are being highlighted by the art works themselves. Moreover, metafictional works of art are singled out as a specific type, almost a genre. This paper offers an alternative perspective. Metafictional features are inherent in any semiotic phenomenon, due to the fact that all sign systems possess self-referential elements and exercise self-referential functions in order to produce meaning. Self-reference is process that positions signifying products simultaneously in a referential and communicative context, carried out by the specific means that belong to the different verbal and non-verbal sign systems involved. Metafictionality is but one effect of this process. Therefore, self-reference does not in the first place call for ontological or epistemological considerations, but for methodological procedures of how self-reference contributes to reference and communication and for didactic perspectives on the effects obtained. Through a typology of semiotic self-reference and a series of analyses of verbal and non-verbal phenomena the paper offers a reflection of self-reference in a didactic perspective.