Online teaching has gradually become the new normal of college teaching, but college teachers still have doubts about the significance and value of online teaching. In accord withCultural - Historical Activity Theory, 12 teachers from a university in Wu? han, Hubei Province are selected as the subjects of the study. They are interviewed in a semi - structured way, and thepatterns of the emotional language they used to describe their online teaching experience are analyzed based ongrounded theory, and features that shape their attitudes towards online teaching are identified. It is found that faculty members’attitudestowards online education were shaped by their ability to express subject matter of personalsignificance and their ability to perform personally valued social roles inon? line teaching. The findings generated by this study provide an alternative, complementary focus that considers how online teaching af? fects the subjective meaning of teaching for faculty members. This study believes that both the instrumental and subjective aspects of online teaching must be considered if online education is to contribute to teaching goals as well as to faculty members’ learning and pro? fessional growth.