Hi,

A hands-on approach in this aspect is effective in promoting oral skills and other language skills too. An excellent activity!

Regards

This technique may add motivation, but the language can also be fast for EFL students, and may include slang or informal wording that is inappropriate, or too far beyond the skill level of the students.

There are two issues in the question here: the virtues of films per se and the advantages and disadvantages of subtitles.

With regard to the first question, films provide an excellent opportunity for motivating, time extensive listening and, as long as the dialogue is not too stylized, expose learners to natural, colloquial language.

With regard to the second question, subtitles in English make films accessible to students whose listening skills do not allow them to understand the dialogue on the basis of sound alone. They may also promote learning of words and expressions, as students are exposed to them through two channels-written and spoken English. 

However, if over-used, subtitles can prevent learners from attempting to understand fast-native speech unaided. For this reason, I use a technique which combines the virtues of listening with and without subtitles:

-Students watch the beginning of the film-the first 15-20 minutes- with subtitles; this will normally enable them to understand the context of the film and to get used to the voices and accents of the main characters.

- After that, I encourage them to alternate  short stretches of listening without subtitles with longer stretches of "subtitled listening". The length of the stretches without subtitles will depend on the students' level, motivation, and frustration thresholds. 

In my view, it is a good idea for teachers to guide the students by recommending films which are easy to understand and/or provide a good model of language. If , like me, you are not a film buff, you can get learners to guide each other on this.