Interviewing, as a method of assessment, is most commonly used in the language arts classroom. The reason for this is because interviewing helps tease out a person's linguistic proficiency and literature naturally lends itself to a conversation based approach, due to its inherent conversational nature. Teachers may use interviews to assess students' ability to use proper language and diction when they speak. They may also use interviews to ask questions in a logical series where each question is based on the student's previous answer, something that is not possible on a written test.
Interviews are common as a method of assessment in second languages. It is not enough to be able to conjugate verbs and write passages. In order to be truly fluent in a language, you must be able to converse with native speakers; hence the value of interviewing in second language instruction. By interviewing students, second language teachers can get a sense of how their pupils actually converse in the second language, which is not possible with any other method of assessment.
Interviewing can be used as a method of assessment in the social sciences. Interviews serve as a reliable alternative for in-class presentations. Presentations and seminar discussions are quite common in the social sciences because the ability to engage an audience is prized in social-science-related fields. Sometimes, students are not able to give presentations, due to severe anxiety or social phobia. In these instances, the teacher may give the student the option of being interviewed on the subject instead of giving a presentation before a larger audience.
Interviews are used quite commonly in business and career-related subjects, although the types of interviews used in these domains are quite different from those used in academic subjects. Business classes teach students the practical aspects of buying, selling, marketing and financing, while career learning classes teach students about making their way in the job market. In these kinds of classes, use role-playing and simulation. For example, the teacher may conduct a mock job interview with the student where the teacher plays the interviewer and the student plays the applicant.