This paper concerns an action oriented study conducted between a welding teacher and two researchers in three iterative cycles. The teaching as well as the research is planned, conducted and analysed based on two theoretical frameworks; the variation theory (VT) and conversation analysis (CA), aiming to examine the relation between teaching and learning in vocational education, with a specific focus on learning to weld in a collaborative study between a vocational teacher and two researchers. The results can contribute to teachers’ professional learning and an improvement of planning and conducting teaching in relation to specific objects of learning in vocational education. This research contributes to both theoretical and educational findings. Furthermore, combining VT and CA approaches in an action oriented study contributes developing concepts for an integrated analysis of both the content and the process of learning.