“You Can Continue in Spanish—I Understand”: Intentionality and Equity Tensions in a Translanguaging Classroom

English dominance in U.S. classrooms continues to marginalize multilingual learners, limiting their access to equitable participation and identity expression. This qualitative heuristic critical ethnographic case study examined Translanguaging Pedagogy (TP) as a culturally sustaining practice in an English Medium Instruction (EMI) high school science classroom. The study took place in a linguistically diverse Midwestern urban school where 22 of 27 students spoke a home language other than English. Data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with the teacher and students, and document analysis. Findings revealed four interrelated themes: Building Classroom Community, Teacher as Reflective Practitioner, Language as Identity, and Equity Tensions. Data analysis showed that translanguaging practices fostered collaboration, belonging, and deeper conceptual understanding while affirming students’ linguistic and cultural identities. The teacher’s intentionality was central to sustaining these multilingual spaces, yet equity tensions persisted as English remained the dominant academic language. The study underscores the importance of teachers approaching TP with purposeful, reflection, and a commitment to disrupting linguistic hierarchies. Implications for practice include the need for professional learning that prepares educators to design equitable, culturally sustaining environments where all students—monolingual and multilingual alike—can participate fully in the co-construction of knowledge.